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Nexus and your web filter

If you block consumer AI, or want to, Nexus is the approved route. How each major filter labels AI, and the steps to allow Nexus while consumer AI stays blocked.

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Facts as of Oct 18, 2026Last reviewed Oct 19, 20263 min read

Allow Nexus, keep consumer AI blocked

If you block consumer AI, or want to, Nexus is the approved route. Your filter will almost certainly file Nexus under an AI category, so the setup is the same everywhere: allow Nexus for the students in your pilot, and leave the AI category blocked if that is your policy.

The product runs at app.trynexus.cc. Before a pilot, we send your IT team the exact list of addresses to allow for your filter, whether GoGuardian, Lightspeed, Securly, Linewize or another.

How major filters label AI

Category labels as each vendor documents them, quoted. Some pages were seen only in search results, so check your own console.

Filter	AI category label	What the docs say
GoGuardian Admin	"Artificial Intelligence Tools"	Block or allow per policy (Aug 2, 2023)
Lightspeed Filter	"Artificial Intelligence", "AI Generative", "AI Detective"	Approved, restricted and blocked AI by grade, campus or class, with student prompt logs
Securly Filter	Redirect for conversational AI sites	Can send students who try ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others to Securly AI Chat; staff keep access
Linewize (Qoria)	"Unsafe AI Chat", "Unsafe AI Tools"	Its safety team adds new AI chat sites
Cisco Umbrella, Meraki, Secure Access	"Generative AI"	Sites whose main purpose is generating output from prompts (May 2024)
Fortinet FortiGuard	"Artificial Intelligence Technology"	Admins set it to block in a web filter profile
Palo Alto Networks	"Artificial Intelligence" plus granular categories such as "AI Conversational Assistant"	Recommended action: Alert for the parent category; Block for AI Conversational Assistant

AI categories in school web filters, checked Oct 18, 2026

Steps for IT

Ask your filter vendor how Nexus is classified.
Allow the addresses we send for the student groups in your pilot.
Keep the AI category blocked if that is your policy; Nexus does not need it open.
Test on a school device, on school Wi-Fi, from a student account, before students start.
Re-test after filter updates; vendors add AI categories and recategorize sites.

Why allow-lists need care

Blocks are blunt. When Los Angeles Unified paused generative AI on district devices in September 2026, its filter blocked any site or app categorized as an AI tool, including AI features inside Google Workspace, and the district said some sites are miscategorized or embed AI, so it cannot publish a complete block list. A Stanford researcher told Education Week that switching off generative AI across a school system may be impossible. An explicit allow-list for one approved AI is easier to manage than a perfect block list.

Filters and the law

Federal law requires filters for obscene and harmful images. Blocking AI chat is a local choice. The Children's Internet Protection Act ties E-rate discounts to filtering and does not mention artificial intelligence or chatbots.

What filters see

Monitoring software on a school device works outside Nexus and may capture anything a student types, in any app. Personal chats in Nexus are not shown to teachers, but tell students and families plainly that device monitoring is separate. See AI monitoring in web filters.

[ FAQ ]

Questions and answers

How do we allow Nexus while blocking ChatGPT?

Keep your filter's AI category blocked and add the Nexus addresses we send to the allow-list for your student groups. Test it on a school device on school Wi-Fi before students start.

Which addresses does Nexus need?

The product runs at app.trynexus.cc, and trynexus.cc carries information about it. Before a pilot we send your IT team the exact list for your filter.

Does CIPA require schools to block AI?

No. CIPA requires filters for obscene and harmful images and an internet safety policy; it does not mention AI or chatbots. Blocking AI chat is a local choice.